A journey back to our roots

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An Explanation

This is the home page of the website devoted to the Samhain Legacy: a series of books that starts with the Inheritance Trilogy.

Why the name Madoc?

This is the story of a celtic family with an ancient lineage origniting in the druidic heart of the old Celtic world… Anglesey, the small island that lies off the coast of Wales, in the Irish Sea. The Madoc family stretches back in time to Prince Madoc and the legendary expedition and colonisation of the Americas.Why the title Inheritance?

The title reflects the circumstances and consequences of a bequeathment to a young American of Welsh origin who has no idea of his roots or his destiny. An unexpected inheritance of a house and an estate from an unknown relative in the 'home country' carries with it obligations and demands he could never have imagined.

The first book: Who Do You Think You Are?

This books covers the circumstances that challenge his perceptions about his ancestral past. How much do any of us really know about our roots?

The second book: Kindred Spirits

As the story unfolds, our central character reconnects with ancient Welsh culture, experiencing for the first time the power and depth of legend in a modern world.

The book cover is a representation of a brooch featured in the story and represents the Celtic/Druidic 'Tree of Life', a symbol of rebirth and reincarnation a central theme of the Inheritance Trilogy and the Samhain Series.

The third book: In their Bloodied Footsteps

The third book recounts our character's experiments with regression to past lives and his desperate attempts to follow in the footsteps of Prince Madoc in order to avert a tragedy.

The book cover features Prince Madoc's sword which is a key element of the book's back story of pre-Pilgrim Father colonisation of the Americas.

Why Anglesey?The Roman onslaught

Anglesey was a major centre of druidism: not just for what we now call Wales, but for all the Celtic tribes of the British Isles which included England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Wales itself. As the Romans pushed through France and into present day England, Wales and Scotland, the Celts were pushed further back but the centre of resistance was Anglesey. It's importance as the centre of Celtic learning was paramount and this led to one of the most brutal Roman operations in the long history of that empire.

The meaning of the word 'Welsh' and the last outpost of the Western Empire

There is a certain irony in the history of Anglesey. Celtic Britons became romanised, adopting the Roman laws, customs , language and the Christian religion and maintaining these traditions after Rome itself had started to collapse. This state of affairs was not to last as invaders swept in from across the seas: Angles and Saxons pushing in across eastern England and driving the Celts back. The Angles had a name for Romanised Britons… 'Welsh' to dustinguish them from the non Christian, pagan celts of Northern Scotland and Ireland.

Ironically, it was the area of Gwynedd and Anglesey, so long the bastion of resistance against the Romans that remained a bastion of romanised celtic Britain. The Kingdom of Gwynedd was the last romanised kingdom.

In this context, our Prince Madoc, who hailed from the Kingdom of Gwynedd would have been of this romanised tradition, from a royal court that emplahised its Latin roots in terms of laws and the trappings of power.

Why a web page?

This web page is intended to support and supplement the novels by giving quick and easy access to relevant background information. This is in the form of historical and geographical information and photography. The intention is to add to it as the novels progress.